why sun has different passing score for different exam version

why sun has differnt minimum passing score for different version of exams

For ex. for SCJP version 5 the minimum passing score is 59% but for SCJP version 6 the minimum passing score is 65% what is it so, any body has any idea?
see for version 5 http://www.sun.com/training/catalog/courses/CX-310-055.xml

and for version 6 http://www.sun.com/training/catalog/courses/SL-110-SE6.xml

Tanu I think the passing criteria has been made tougher so that it becomes harder for people to pass the exam. I think the sole idea behind it is that people with lesser percentage don't get passed as the percentage is not displayed on the certificate. So if the passing criteria is simple, then everyone will be moving on the streets with a SCJP certificate in hand.

This is what I feel. Let's see what others say...

I feel that should not be the reason since every version has minor/major changes and depending on the complexity,number and type of upgrade in the current version and past history of candidates passing the exam the passing percentage is decided. but i wanted to hear from some official declaration from somebody.
Is any body listening(reading i mean

) ?

I think Sun want to make it more credible.

Each version of exam has different structure of syllabus (atleast Sun believes so). And, the level of complexity, difficulty might vary across versions. Hence, this difference in passing cutoff.

scjp 7 could have 70% passing score.
scjp 8 could have 80% passing score.
scjp 9 could have 90% passing score.

Originally posted by Punit Singh:
scjp 7 could have 70% passing score.
scjp 8 could have 80% passing score.
scjp 9 could have 90% passing score.

OMG, then SCJP 10 willl have a 100% passing score

...

Originally posted by Punit Singh:
scjp 7 could have 70% passing score.
scjp 8 could have 80% passing score.
scjp 9 could have 90% passing score.

Does it mean, the SCJP exam getting easier?

I don't think it means it's getting easier at all. I'm not Sun so I can only guess but I think they looked at the number of people that passed the certification with barely passing scores and decided to make this certification harder to get to allow fewer people to get it. This will increase the "value" of the cert, will increase Sun certification credibility, and in the end produce higher quality programmers since they will have to put in more effort to get it. They most likely would have done the same thing for the version 5 certification but that would not be fair to any newcommers to Java that would have missed out on the easier cert. I don't think it is any more complicated then that.

EDIT: Ankit... I better start studying for the SCJP 10 now then!!

[ December 10, 2008: Message edited by: Brian Legg ]

The time limit of SCJP 6 is 210 minutes.
The time limit of SCJP 5 is 175 minutes.

So, they decided to give candidates 35 minutes extra-time. This means that you will not have to run that much and may review your answers better. So the SCJP 6 actually got easier than SCJP 5. To compensate that, they raised the minimum passing score to 47 questions instead of 43.